Car-door latch



July 28, 1925.

A. CAMPBELL CAR DOOR LATCH 2 sheets-sheet 1 Original Filed Jan. 30. 1922.figf

4 In x il Ik n A. CAMPBELL CAR DOQR LATCH original Filed Jam.` 3o. 19222 sheets-sheet 2 By X4 Patented .lulyl28, 1925.

1 l .UNITED sTATEs *PATENToF vA RGYLE CAMPBELL, OF' CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

corresponding substantially to the line 6 6 EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OFCHICAGO,

FICE.

nssIeNon To ENTERPRISE RAILWAY ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION Oli' ILLINOIS.

CAB- DOOR LATCH.

original aliplication med January so, 1922, serial no. 532,734, nowraamt No. 1,455,520, dated nay 15,

i 1923. DividedLand this application filed July 10, 1922.

To all lwhom it may concern.' Y Beit known that I, ARGYLECAMPBELL, acitizen ofthe UnitedStates, residingiat Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have iifvented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Car-Door Latches', of which the following is a full,clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part'of this specification. N, Myinvention relates'to improvements in car door latches, and is especiallyadapted for locking the doors of railway dulnp cars.

This application is adivision of my co- 'I pending application SerialNo. 532,734, filed patent No. 1,455,520,

January 30, 1922, now 'granted May 15, 1923.

The objectof my invention is to provide simple and efficient means forlocking the doors in closed position.

Another more specific object. .of my in` vention is to providev asimpleand reliable means for holding the pivot of the latch in assembledrelation with the latch' bracket.

Other objects of the invention will more clearly appear from thedescription and claims hereinafter following.

l In the drawings forming a part-of'this specification, Figure 1 is aside elevation. of part of a dump car showing my improved latch. 'Figure2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view corresponding substantiallyto the section' on the line 2 2 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is asideelevational view, on a still larger scale, of my improved door lockinglatch mechanism. Figure 4 is a horizontal ,sectional view substantiallyon the line L1 4 of Figure .3.' F igure 5 is a vertical Isectional viewcorresponding substantiallyto the section line 5 5 on Figure l. AndFigure 6' is a transverse sectional view carrying on Figure 5.b

In said drawings, the car is -shown as provided with an underframecomprising a ridge shaped center sill 10, cross members, or diaphragme.,an le iron side sills 13, side walls 14, side es 15, diagonal braces 16,fixed door sections A, drop bottom doors B, and longi tudnally extendingcover plates orboards 18 over the center sill.

As shown in Eig. 2,-the-floor doors are or needle beams 11 and 12,

Serial No. 573,847.

. pivoted along their inner edges as indicatedat 19 to suitable hingebutts preferably attached to the .center sill or to the latter and thecross members of the underframe. Each of the doors B preferably consistsof va plurality of longitudinally extending boards or planks securedtogether on the upper sides by a plurality of plates or straps, andbraced on the underside vbya pair of transversely extending beams 21.Each ofthe latter, at the outer free edge of -the door, dicated at 21and then extends outwardly' horizontally as 'indicated at 21b beyond theplane of the side wall 14, for the purposes hereinafter described.

Beneath each door, as shown in Fig. 2,

I locate a longitudinally extending bar 22,

is downwardly deflected as ina, and the latter in turn the adjacentneedle beam-or cross mem- Y ber 11. Y

Preferably the bars 22 are provided with suitable hardened wear plates24 onl their upper sides in line with the door braces 21 softhatV Wearon the bars is minimized andl the shock is transmitted to the doorthrough the braces 11. The stop arrangement which I have shown is moreor less resilient,l is eilicientin operation, superiorto .the usualangled flange employed -for asimilar purpose, and the strap attachmentpermits of the doors being stopped at any desired point,- itbeing'evident that the straps are extended below the bottom edges of thecross mem-^` bers or diaphragme. It will also be noted that the strapsare placed so as to extend at right angles to the plane of the doorIwhen the latter is in its opened position,

thus placing the strap purely under tension and rendering it mostellcient.

In order to eliminate the use of expen- `sive shafts and the usualflexible door rais- -ing and lowering devices, I employ locking latches,two o Fig. `1. The details' of one of said'latches,

r each door, as shown in which are arranged right and left so as toswingtoward each other as clearly shown in Fig. 1, are best illustrated inFigs. 3, 4,- and 6. Each of said locking devices comprises, broadly, abracket or support C; a

lever latch D; and a locking cam E.

The bracket C, preferably a casting, is

j provided 'with a main back wall or web 30,

which, when the bracket is in position, bears against and is secured tothe side wall strucl ture of the car as by a series of three rivets31'-31. To provide a housing and also to prevent outward bending ormovement of line shown best in Fig. 3l -The latch and locking cam arehoused between the walls or webs 30 and 32, the swinging movement. ofthe lever latch D in a closing or operative direction being limited bysaid flange 33, as

shown in Fig. 5. The swinging movement of thecam E to its inoperativeposition.,.is likewise limited by the' same engaging the flange 34. j v1 L I have provided a novel and etlicient means for .pivotallysupporting the latch and cam. In the backl wall' or web 30 of thebracket C are provided depressions or circular recesses 35 and 36, theback wall at these points being thickened to allow for said recesses 35vand 36 without weakening the casting. The Arecesses 35 and 36accommodate the heads 37 of heavy pivot pins 38 and 39 for the latch andcam respectively, the Shanks of said pins being extended hori- :zontallyoutwardly through alined openings in said back. wall 30 and outer wall32 as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4.. In this manner the 'pivot pins 438and 39 are positively held against displacement after the locking deviceis in position, inasmuch as the heads of the pins are confined betweenthe bracket and the adjacent fixed portions of the can structure.llith'this arrangement, the pins are stronger and less subject to bendinand shear than if the'same lwere extendengl en-V tirely through thebracket into the side wall structure of the cfa-r. The latch lever D isformed with a shank having the upper portion thereof 40 slopingdownwardly and from its pivotal/ support toward the oppo site latch ofthe same set, the lower portlon of the shank as indicated at 41extending vertically when the latch is in' operative position. At thebottom of the shank, is formed a bearing or locking face 42 which iscurved on a relatively long radius about a center eccentric to the axisof the pivotal connection of the latch so that said curved bearing-face42 when it is ushed vhome against a corresponding curv bearing face 43provided on the bottom of a block 44 secured to the outer (end v21" ofthe door brace, will have a wedging effectinA pushing the door tofullyclosed position. It will also be noted that the shank of the latch D isof right angular cross-section with one flange 45 extending'in planestransverse of the car and the other or outer flange 45 extendin parallelto' the car and overlapping the en kof the door brace andblock 44 whenin operative position. i

The locking cam. E is of the usual type, having a cam surface adapted t0engage with a fiat surface 46 on the portion 40 ot the shank of thelat'ch lever. a

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the vdoors areadapted to be lifted by hand or-by means of a suitable lever engagedwith a socket or bracket on the underside of the doorand lifted toclosed position. As the doors approach their closed position, theprojecting ends 21"' engage' the beveled lower ends 47 of the latclrlevers D'thereby pushing the latter so as to clear the extensions 21"until theflatter are suiclently elevated for the locking faces 42 of thelatch levers to swing under ythe .locking lfaces 43 under the influenceof gravity.

With myj'arrangement of locking latches,

it is evident that th'e expense for the doorlf operating means is verymaterially reduced as compared with prior arrangements,commonlyvemployed on' general service cars, so that -thispreduction ofVthe expense in conjunction-with the reduced cost of the doorsl and'fittings, makes the entire car an ex'- tremely inexpensive one tomanufacture.

I have herein shown and now consider the v ing out theinventiom-but thesame is merely illustrative and I contemplate all changes andmodifications.. scope of the claims"appended hereto.

I claim:

1. Ina car, the combination with a pivoted dump door having a projectionfrom one of its edges; of means for lockin Y in closed positioncomprising, a racket secured to a fixed part of the car, a shoulderedlatch engageable with* said projection end a headed pin forpivotallysupporting sald latch from said r 'through the bracket andl having itshea confined between the inner face of theV said door racket, said pinextendingl .105 that come Ywithin the bracket and the adjacent portionof the car.

2. .Ina car, the combination with a pivoted dum door having a projectionfrom one of its ges; of means tor locking salddoor incl'osedpositioncomfprising, a' bracket sej cured to a fixed part o thecar, a shouldered latch engageable'with said projection, sald latchbeing pivoted to the bracket; a lockingI with sal latlpelodhold itfin.

-o ratve position an fa. e j pin or piiiotally supporting said lockingfrom.

said bracket, said pin extending through the cam engageable .ed dumpdoor having a projectionv from one e of its edges; of means for lockingsaid door in closed position comprising, a bracket secured to a fixedportion of the car, a shouldered latch engageable with said projection,a locking cam engageable with the latch, and headed pins for pivotallysupporting the latch and locking cam, each pin extending throughthebracket and having its head confined between the inner face v of thebracket and the adjacent portion of the car.

4. In a car, the combination with a pivoted side dump Hoor door havingextensions from its free edge extending outwardly beyond the side wallof the car; of means for holding said door in closed position, saidmeans comprising brackets secured to the outer face of the car wall andshouldered latches pivotally attached to said brackets adapted to engagesaid projections, said latches having Shanks of angular cross-section.

5. As an article of manufacture, a latch for pivoted doors, said latchcomprising, a bracket having an inner wall and an outer wall spacedtherefrom to form a housing, a, shouldered lever pivotally supportedfrom said bracket between said inner and outer walls thereof anddepending below the bracket and adapted to fall to operative ositionunder the influence of gravity, a loc 'ng cam cooperable withm saidlever to hold it in operative position, and bodily detachable pivot pinsfor said lever and locking cam,

said pivot pins being provided with retaining means adapted to engageone side of the bracket and a portion of the surface to which thebracket is secured.

6. In a door device f or railway cars, the combination with a hingeddrop door having a hook-engaging seat formed thereupon, of adoor-supporting hook pi\ oted upon the car body and arranged forsupporting cooperation with the said seat, the said hook havin a shankportion and a supporting ledge elow the shank portion arranged forengagement with' the said door seat, there being an` integral shroud ofmetal connecting the said ledge with the said shank portion, the saidshroud being arranged to one side of the said ledge.

, the said base and some thereof bein k7. In a door device for railwaycars, the combination with a hinged drop door having a hook-engagingseat formed thereupon, of a door-supporting hook pivoted upon the carbody and arranged for supporting cooperation with the said seat, thesaid hook having a shank, portion and a supporting ledge below the shankportion arranged for engagement with the said door seat, there being anintegral shroud of metal connecting the said ledge withrthe said shankportion, the said shroud being arranged to one side of the said ledgeand outwardly of the said ,seat on the door.

8. A locking device for car doors embodying a base withinner and outerspaced walls comprising ahousing, a hook pivotally mounted between fsaid walls, an end wall connecting the said innerand outer walls, thesaid end wall extending around the top of the hook in an arcuate path.

9. A vlocking device for the drop doors of railway cars, embodying abracket with integral inner and outer walls and an integralconnectingwall, a hook pivoted between the" inner aridouter walls, thesaid connecting Wall extending at an angle with the general line ofthe-bracket and following the contour of the forward edge of the hook,and bracket-securing rivets extending through the said inner wall, thesame being arranged along the said connecting wall.

10. A locking device for'the drop doors of railway cars, embodying abracket with a base portion, an outer Wall integral with and spaced fromthe said base, an integral connecting wall, a hook pivoted between thebase and the outer wall and lying along one side of the connecting wall,a dog pivoted to the bracket to the rear of the hook, and a plurality ofrivets connecting'the ,bracket to the car, the said rivets passingthrough located along one side ofthe said connecting wall and the hook`and others thereof being located to the other side of the saidconnecting wall and the hook.

In witness that I claim the have hereunto subscribed my 24th day ofJunel 1922.

ARGYLE CAMPBELL.

foregoing I name this

